Nut-lock.



No. 642,7ls. Patented Feb. s, |900; c. F. DE manon.

N U T L 0 C K lication ld Nov. 3

UI llillllllllll l IHIlllllll-ll-l-II-l Il llllll (No Model.)

Patented Feb. 6, |900. c. Ff DE REDON.

uur Lock.

(Applicaion filed Nov. 3, 1899.)

2 Sheets-Sheet 2.

NiTnD STATES PATENT Trice.

CONSTANT F. DE REDON, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., ASSIGNOR TO MARCUS STINE, OF SAME PLACE.

NUT-LOCK.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 642,718, dated February 6, 1900.

Application filed November 3, 1899. Serial No. 735,661. (No model.)

T0 all whom t may concern:

Beit known that I, CONSTANT F. DE REDON, a citizen of the United States, residingin New York, in the county of New York and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Nut-Locks, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to improvements in nut-locks; and it has for its main object the provision of an improved device of this class by means of which a nut and its bolt when located in their proper relative positions may be held there and any tendency of the parts to work loose positively prevented.

The principal feature of my present invention is the employment in connection with a bolt and its nut of a resilient locking member having in vits holding-face a recess adapted to receive a corner of the partit engages, which of course will ordinarily be the nut. The tendency of this resilient member to yield should be such or should be so controlled that the member when in its proper position will firmly engage the part which it is intended to hold and will prevent slipping of the latter. So long as the locking member is capable of operating in this manner it is im material how it is constructed; but ordinarily it will be a resilient body adapted` to encircle the nut, and it should be split in order to permit it to grip the nut firmly. Preferably this split locking member will be a coiled spring, either spiral or helical, and will have in its nut-en gaging face a series of recesses into any one of which a corner of the nut may pass to permit the walls of such recess to obtain a firm hold upon the sides of the nut. Of course, while it is desirable to have more than one such recess in the inner face of the inner coil of th'e locking-spring, it is not essential to make use of a complete circuit of such recesses in' the holding-face of said coil, as a plurality of separated recesses or separated groups of recesses may be used. It is better,

however, to form the inner coil with a complete circuit of recesses, in order that it may be located on the nut in any one of a large number of positions.

Within the scope of my invention as just outlined many different forms of lockingsprings may be employed to hold the nut in its proper position, and the recesses in such springs may also be formed in many ways. Of course when many recesses are formed close together, so as to be immediately adjacent to one another, the holding-face of the inner coil of the spring will present a serrated appearance, and, while these serrations may be formed by cutting or filing away the inner edge of the coil, the same result may be obtained by corrugating the inner coil of the locking-spring when the latter is made from Wire or from sheet metal, as will frequently be the case.

It has been stated before that either a spiral or a helical spring may be employed to lock the nut in position, and it will be apparent that when Wire or sheet metal is employed in the construction of the spring the former Y adapts itself readily to the shaping of a helical spring, while the latter is more suitable in many cases for the formation of a spiral spring. Moreover, while one face of a somewhat thick wire may be easily serrated by filing or cutting, and that without unduly impairing the strength of the spring, a dat sheet-metal band may be recessed or serrated to the best advantage along its holding-face by corrugating the strip forming the inner coil, and at the same time this corrugation of the inner coil Will increase the strength of the latter, as is well understood.

An important advantage resulting from the use of a spirallocking-spring as opposed to a helical locking-spring is that in the former all of the coils lie in a common plane, and when the free end of the spring is pulled taut and tension is applied thereto the holding effect is applied directly and most effectively to the inner coil, and the latter grips the nut and holds the same as firmly as if the nut were encircled by an endless or solid ring properly recessed or serrated to receive the corners of the nut. On the other hand, while the walls of the recesses in the first coil of a helical spring engage the sides of the nut and hold the same firmly when tension is applied to the spring, yet such coil is not held positively in position by an overlapping encircling coil, as is the case with a spiral spring, but instead depends for its holding effect principally upon the endwise hold of the walls of its recesses.

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The locking member or spring may be held in position in any suitable manner after it has been located; but usually it will be engaged at or near the free end thereof. Usually, of course, the free end of the springwill be secured to the bolt with which the nut cooperates, the endless spring being engaged by some suitable holding-face on the bolt-as, for example, by the walls of a recess or notch in the point of the bolt. It is not essential, however, that the spring be so held, as it may be kept under tension in many other ways.

In the drawings accompanying and forming part of this application, Figure l is a front elevation of a nut-lock embodying my present invention. Fig. 2 is a sectional plan of the same, part of the outer coil of the locking-spring being broken awayin order to illustrate the operation of such spring more clearly. Fig. 3 is a detail illustratingmeans for holding the free end of the spring. Fig. -1 is a detail of the locking member shown in Figs. l and 2 and is in this case a corrugated spiral band-spring. Fig. 5 is a front elevation of a modification of my invention, illustrating two nuts locked in place by a common S-shaped lookin g member having spiral locking-springs at its opposite ends. Fig. 6 is an under side sectional view of the left-hand end of the device shown in Fig. 5. Fig. 7 is a front elevation of another modification illustrating a locking member in the form of a spiral wire spring the end of which is locked in place bythe `walls of the notch in the bolt. Fig. Sis a plan of the same. Fig. 9 is a front elevation of another modification illustrating a helical wire spring the free end of which is held in the same manner as is the spring shown in Fig. 7. Fig. 10 is a plan ofthe same. Fig. 1l is a front elevation on a smaller scale, illustrating a series of spiral locking-springs formed from wire and having their free ends held by a common locking-rod; and Fig. l2 is a detail illustrating, on an enlarged scale, one end of the serrated wire rod from which the wire locking-spring may be formed.

Similar characters designate like parts in all the figures of the drawings.

Referring first to the construction shown in Figs. l to 4t,inclusive, I have illustratedtherein one of the strongest and most effective nu tlocks embodying my present invention. In these Views the locking member is formed from a somewhat wide and strong sheet-metal strip, usually spring-steel, and the outer coils of this spiral band-spring when tension is applied thereto bind firmly against the inner coil or coils and hold the latter securely in position to engage the nut or other member to be held thereby. In this construction I have illustrated a pair of members to be held together, and these may be any parts which it is desired to connect by a bolt and a nut. These members to be joined together maybe a rail and a fish-plate, or any other parts to beconuected ina corresponding fashion, and are designated herein by 2 and 3. Through these parts a bolt, such as b, may be passed in the usual manner, and it may support a washer, such as w, against which a nut, such as n, may press in the usual way. rlhe locking member may be applied to either one of the two main coacting parts-viz., the nut and the bolt-in such a manner as to prevent movement of one of these parts relative to the other; but ordinarily it will engage the nut and when in the form of a spring willencircle the latter, and the Walls of the recess or recesses in the spring will engage the sides of the nut adjacent to a corner or corners thereof. Here the band-spring (designated lin a general way by s) is employed, and preferably the inner coil thereof has a series or circuit of notches, such as four,formed in this case by corrugating the inner coil of the spring, the walls of: the notches being designated by 4. It will be apparent, of course, that the extent to which the inner coil of this spring may be recessed or serrated by corrugating it may be varied and also that agreater portion of the spring than that comprised in the inner coil may be corrugated, if desired. The inner coil of a band-spring formed in this manner is very firm and rigid, as the arches formed by the corrugations will resist any crushing forces likely to be applied thereto. Moreover, the inner coil is held tightly by the outer coil or coils of' the spring, which, of course,should be under tension,and the whole spring when thus applied operates practically as a solid locking member.. Usually this bandspring will have an eye or loop, such as 5, formed at its free end, and in this a pin, such as 6, may be held in order to permit the band to be fastened to some fixed part, such as the bolt b. IIere one side ot' this pin is slabbed ott, as at 6', to form aholding-face for engaging the inner wall of the head of an eye-pin or Cotter-pin, such as 7. The manner in which these parts coact will be' evident by referring to Figs. l, 2, and 3. The end of this pin 7 may be held in any suitable Way, but usually will be passed into or through a transverse recess or opening in the point of the bolt b. Vhen the Cotter-pin encircles the head of the pin G and said Cotter-pin is passed through the bore in the bolt, it will be evident that the spring will be firmly held under tension, that it cannot work loose while so held, that there will be no tendency ot' the Cotter-pin to work out of the opening in the bolt, and that for these reasons the bolt and the nut will be firmly locked together.

In Figs. 5 and 6 I have illustrated a modification in which the two parts 2 and 3 are held together by nuts and bolts, such as n', n, b', and b", two pairs of nuts and bolts being shown, and these being connected by a locking member in the form of an S-shaped spring having spiral coils s and s" at both ends thereof. These coils are so disposed relatively to each other that each coil when in position will be tensioned and locked in place by the pull of the other. This result is at- IOD IIO

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tained by passing the bolts b and b" through elongated openings 8 and 8 in the plate or other member 3 and turning one of the coils on the nut n or n after tightening up the nut, thus putting its own locking-coils under tension and at the same time tensioning the coils that lock the nut n" in place. In this case it Will be noticed that the locking member is formed from a Wire or rod and that the inner coil of each spiral is recessed or serrated by liling or cutting aWay the material at the inner face of the coil, the stock from which the spring is formed being sufficiently heavy to permit this and being somewhat too heavy to permit of proper corrugation. lt will be noticed also that in this case each locking-spiral is secured in place by the opposing action of the other and that no separate holding means is employed for engaging the free end of either spiral. Each coil, however, forms, With the nut and bolt by which it is carried, holding means for engaging the free end of the other spiral.

In Figs. 7 and 8 another modification is illustrated in which a spiral spring is formed from a Wire, preferably circular in cross-section, and the free end of this Wire is positioned preferably by direct engagement with the bolt on Which the nut is carried. Here the members 2 and 3 are held together in the usual Way by a bolt b3, a Washer w3 being also employed, and the locking-spring, Which is indicated by s3, rests against this Washer and coacts at its free end directly With the bolt. I-Iere this bolt is recessed or notched, preferably in the head thereof, said notch in this case being in the fornr of a key-slot 9. The end of the spring is of such cross-section that the whole straight end portion IO thereof may be slipped into the slot 9 sidewise, and after it is in place the coils of the spiral may be turned slightly to tighten the same, When the end 10/ of the spring Will bind against one Wall of the key-slot, as shown in Fig. S, and Will serve to lock the spring firmly.

In Figs. 9 and 10 I have illustrated another modification substantially similar to that just described, except that here the bolt b3 and the nut n3 are held together by a helical spring formed from a Wire substantially circular in cross-section instead of by a spiral spring. The end I0 of the helix s4 is engaged by the Walls of the key-slot 9 in the bolt in the same Way as is the free end 10 of the spiral s3, and the bolt b3 and the nut n3 are secured together in substantially the same Way that' they are held by the spring s3. Of course it should be understood that the grip of the helical spring s4 is not as strong as that of the spiral spring4 S5, although it will usually be found sufficient for nearly all purposes.

In Fig. l2 I have illustrated in detail, on an enlarged scale, the manner in which the Wire rod is serrated before it is bent to form the inner coil of one of the springs shown in Figs. 7 and 9.

In Fig. ll another modification of my invention is illustrated in which a series of locking-sprin gs .95 have their free ends shaped to form eyes orloops, such as 5', and through all of these eyes a rod or Wire is passed that forms a common holding means for the Whole series of locking-springs. The locking or holding rod illustrated herein is designated by 12 and has oppositely-hooked ends, the hook I2 being adapted to engage one end of the fish-plate 2, While the hook 12 may be engaged by an S-shaped hook, such as 13, Which in turn engages the other end of said fish-plate.

In all of the different forms of my invention illustrated herein it will be evident that the nut to be locked in place is engaged by the walls of recesses or serrations in a resilient member or spring capable of being tensioned to bind it firmly in place, and thereby prevent the working loose of the nut or the bolt onto which the nut is screwed. In other Words, the nut is not only looked by a positive stop-that is, by the Wall of a recess in the locking member-but the latter in every case operates asa spring and serves to clamp the holding-coil tightly around the nut which it encircles. v

Having described my invention, I claiml. In a nut-lock, the combination, with a nut and a bolt, of a resilient locking member having a substantially circular recessed holding-face adapted to turn on, and receive a corner of, one of such coacting parts and in gripping contact with a plurality of corners of such part when in its operative position. Y

2. In a nut-lock, the combination, With a nut, of a resilient nut-engaging member having a substantially circular holding face adapted to turn on said nut and embodying a plurality of recesses for receiving corners of the nut and in gripping contact With a plurality of corners of such nut .when in its operative position.

3. In a nut-lock, the combination, with a nut, of a resilient nut-engaging member having a substantially circular holdingface adapted to turn on said :nut and embodying a series of immediately-adjacent recesses for receiving corners of the nut and in gripping contact With a plurality of corners of such nut when in its operative position.

4. In a nut-lock, the combination, with a nut, of a resilient nut-encirclin g member having a substantially circular holding-face completely surrounding said nut and embodying a recess for receiving a corner of the nut and in gripping contact with a plurality of corners of such nut when in its operative position.

5. In a nut-lock, the combination, with a nut, of a resilient nut-encircling member having a substantially circular holding-face completely surrounding said nut and embodying a circuit of recesses for receiving corners of the nut and in gripping contact with a plu- IOO IIO

rality of corners of such nut when in its operative position.

6. In a nut-lock, the combination, with a nut, of a split resilient nut-engaging member having a substantially circular holding-face completelysurrounding said nut and embodying a recess for receiving a corner of the nut and in gripping contact with a plurality of .corners of such nut when in its operative position.

7. In a nut-lock, the combination, with a nut, of a coiled nut-encircling locking-spring having in its inner convolution a nut-engag ing recess for receiving a corner of the nut.

8. In a nut-lock, the combination, with a nut, of a coiled nut-encircling locking-spring having in its nut-engaging face a plurality of recesses for receiving corners of the nut. v

9. In a nut-lock, the combination, with a nut, of a spiral nut-encircling locking-spring having in its nut-engaging face a plurality of recesses for receiving corners of the nut.

10. In a nut-lock, the combination, with a nut, of a spiral nut-encircling band-spring having in its nut-engaging face a plurality of recesses for receiving corners of the nut.

1l. In a nut-lock, the combina-tion, with a nut, of a coiled nut-encircling spring having a nut-engaging face serrated to receive corners of the nut.

, 12. In a nut-lock, the combination, with a nut, of a coiled nut-encircling spring having a corrugated nut-engaging coil for engaging corners of the nut.

13. In a nut-lock, the combination, with a nut, of a Wide spiral nutencircling bandspring having a corrugated nut-engaging coil for engaging corners of the nut.

14. In a nut-lock, the combination, with a nut, of a coiled nut-encircling locking-spring having in its inner convolution a nut-en gaging recess for receiving a corner of the nut,

and means for holding the spring in position.

15. In a nut-lock, the combination, with a nut, of a coiled nut-encircling locking-spring having in its inner convolution a nut-engaging recess for receiving a corner of the nut, and means for engaging the free end of the spring.

16. In a nut-lock, the combination, with a nut, of a bolt carrying said nut, and a coiled nut-encircling locking-spring secured to said bolt and having in its inner convolution a recess forreceiving a corner of the nnt.`

17. In a nut-lock, the combination, with a nut, of a bolt carrying said nut, and a coiled nut-encircling locking-spring having its free end engaged bya holding-face of said bolt and also having in its inner face a recess for receiving a corner of the nut.

18. In a nut-lock, the combination, with nut, of a bolt carrying said nut, and a coiled nut-encircling locking-spring having its free.

end secured to said bolt and also having in its inner face a recess for receiving a corner of the bolt.

19. In a nut-lock, the combination, with a nut, of a transversely-recessed bolt carrying said nut, and a coiled nut-encircling lockingspring seated at its free end in the recess in the bolt and having in its inner face a recess for receiving a corner of the nut.

20. In a'nut-lock, the combination, with a nut, of a transversely-notched bolt carrying said nut, and a coiled nut-encircling lockingspring seated at its free end in the notch in the bolt and having in its inner face a recess for receiving a corner of the nut.

'CONSTANT F. DE REDON.

Witnesses:

C. A, WEED, F. N. CHASE. 

